Morning journal and courier., 1887-07-27

your animalssn E'My complete self-coni dence and my courage. I consider these the only means. Red-hot irons, arms, loaded whips are the implements of the charlatan or of the coward. I have never made use of
 anything more formidable than an ordinary riding whip. And please observe I only work with full-grown animals captured in 6 wild state, and not, like my confreres, With beasts born in the menagerie and brought up
 by bitches or with a sucking bottle. When the Prince and the Princess of Wales visited my establishment in 1878, at the time of the exhibition, I entered the cage in their pres ence and in the presence of Gambetta, Emile de Girardin and others, and mastered six full-grown African lions whom I had re- oeived that day, and who were as ferocious
 as any have ever had to do with. Sultan too, the lion whose portrait you see over the fireplace, and who nearly killed me year ago, was six years old-that is in his prime when entered his cage for the first time. That was down at Lyons, in September, 1876. The previous day he had killed 8 man called Vicard, and my performance was given in favor of Vicards widow and orphan. Vi- card was railway porter, and had been fool ish enough to put his hand into the lions
 travelling box at the station-5ultan had just arrived from Africa that morning-to stroke the brute. Sultan seized his arm and tore it off bodily. The man died the same night. Before twenty-four hours had elapsed I had
 
 regularly with him twice a day for ten years. It was just year ago that he attacked me and nearly killed me. l was suffering from rheumatic pains that day and happened to slip. A lion tanner must never fall. Lions have not your English notions about respect ing fallen foe. The brute was on me like 8 shot and he got me by the neck. I caught him by the throat and shouted, Sultan! SuI- tan! what are you doingP My voice fright
 ened him doubtless, for he opened his jaws and Ioosened his hold without tearing out the flesh. If he had done that should in- evitably have been killed. He then seized me by the arm and afterwards by the thigh, wounding me besides with his claws in three l other places. I managed, however, in spite of my terrible wounds to struggle to my ! feet, and once on my feet was master of him. Since then, however, 1 have not entered the | cages. have been :ibly shaken and re- duced in strength. It will be some time be- { fore shall have sufficient nerve to approach Sultan once more. No; do not believe in | that nonsense that is talked about it being impossible to do anything with animals who ! have tasted human blood or have seen it. If ! I did I should have retired from business ! long ago. have been bitten and torn over and over again, and have often continued my 1 performance with my blood streaming all l over me. The brutes appreciate my courage ! and are afraid of me because they see that am not afraid of them. That is the whole 1 secret of lion-taming."
 "You are immensely strong, M. Bidela" ! "1 used to be-" he replied modestlY. II l have told you what did at Bayonne when a l lad. At Mad1id once pursued lion that | had got loose for thirty minutes, caught him I single handed and held him till my men I brought up his cage, into which I threw
 him. Well, yes, I was slightly damaged. l At one time one of the great hits of my per formance was to pick up full-sized lion on my shoulders and to carry him round the II cage three times. The lion weighed two hundred kilos. I not strong now. l Sultan knocked it out of me considerably l No; follow no particular regime-training | you call it-and never have done so. I 1 avoid excesses of all kinds, especially of
 strong drink, and that is all."
 l "Apropos of economy you must have heavy expenses!" "Yes. I calculate my | expenses in Paris at about twelve thousand francs q month, and it is at Paris we spend least. At Bordeaux I spent eleven hundred | francs day, and of course when we are | travelling in our special train we spend far l more. The expenses include food for the ! beasts, rent for space and the tax on enter | tainments, which goes to the public assis- 1 tance office. I use one horse day to feed my animals. We give them beef twice a ! week. One day in the month they fast. A l lion eats twenty pounds of flesh per diem I and drinks two quarts of cows milk every l morning. Then there is the loss of the
 beasts to be considered. There is terrible
 mortality by consumption among lions, and
 lion is worth from twenty to thirty thou | sand francs. The cost price of a lion un- tanned is six hundred pounds. That is what I paid for Sultan, who is now worth at least
 two thousand pounds. He is the most mag I nifcent specimen of black-maned Atlas lion in Europe. You must consider the cap
 ital we have to sink in our subjects when you calculate our expenses. On the other
 hand the receipts are good. Neuilly fair is 1 one of the most productive of the places we
 visit. We give two performances every
 sixty pounds. On Sundays we usually make
 one hundred or one hundred and twenty
 pounds, but with six performances at re
 duced prices. forgot to mention one item
 of expense, which is the band. We only
 employ Frenchmen, and they are more ex pensiye than Germans. I have not had a
 single German employe since 1871. You
 saw what fuss was made because my col
 league, Pezon, had 8 German band. He has
 had to dismiss them and to employ French
 men. The Germans are being bounded out
 of every establishment in the business"